Here's our home's (updated) music library room. It's about 18 by 24 feet in length with built in bookshelves on each wall.
We designed the room so that it would serve our audio purposes as well as be a place where you would want to go and hang out rather than an audio only man cave. We painted the walls with a lighter tan color from Benjamin Moore and stained the trim & baseboard with a dark Walnut Minwax gel stain. We just had the plantation shutters installed which has really helped break up some of the front reflections from our windows, not to mention blocking an annoying street light in front of our home. Drapes in front are linen drapes from Restoration Hardware. Finally, I constructed a bunch of OC 703 2" thick acoustic panels and covered them with a burgundy fabric from Joanne's and placed them in the front corners and 4 off the tray ceiling. It made worlds of difference, the room was very echo prone, but now its a great blend and not too dead. The panels along with the thick wool carpet tamed the room just fine.
The electrician ran 2 dedicated lines during the build, one to the McIntosh MC 402 and subwoofers and one to the equipment rack. No noise, hum, or ground loop problems thank God. Amplification is provided by a McIntosh C2300 tube preamp and MC 402 power amplifier which provides more than enough juice for the Avalons. The REL 212 SEs now sitting on a pair of Auralex platforms replaced a pair of B2 Britannias. The RELs sounded excellent in our old room as well as in this one. I replaced a VPI Classic 2 with a Classic Signature bundle (with the SDS speed controller) and a Stillpoints record clamp...amazing how much difference the Stillpoints clamp made. The Audio Research Ref 2 phono SE has taken the place of a Manley Chinook which was a fine component in its own right but cannot compete with the ARC piece. Interconnects throughout are Wireworld Gold while speaker cabling is by way of a pair of Wireworld Silver. Power cabling is Shunyata Alphas all connected to a Shunyata Denali power center.
Thanks to all the members on here for advice during the build and to my lovely wife who loves the room, but has told me that if she has to help me build or hang one more acoustic panel, she will serve me papers!
Well....I have been looking for new speakers in the used 10 - 20 K price range for awhile now and have spent an absolute TON of time reading all about what people think about models such as the Sonus Faber Elipsa, Thiel CS3.7s, Wilson Sophias, Verity Parsifals, Aerials, and finally the Avalon Eidolons or Indras. To make a long story short, I could not demo ANY of these anywhere and with my schedule, I wouldn't be able to fly anywhere to compare. The only one I had a chance on was the CS3.7, but our local dealer sold them off, so no go there either. So I figured as long as I was committed on buying a dealer demo or used, I could at least resell for roughly the same amount if I found a deal good enough, so I have been really patient and the Eidolon Visions turned up from an excellent dealer. Based on feedback that they were cut from the same cloth as the Thiels (which I still feel are excellent), just much more refined, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I have never heard the Diamonds or any other Avalon for that matter. The other thing that helped make my decision is that in all my research, it truly seemed like Avalons have the fewest number of detractors out of all the brands I've listed (Verity being a close second). You can find millions of negative opinions on Thiel, Wilson, even Magico and Sonus Faber, but its very hard to find anything negative on any of the Eidolon models. Couple that with hardly any being on the used market, I figured it was as safe as I could be without listening. Finally once I sell my Thiels for "average" market value, I'll come up spending less that 10K for the upgrade. That seemed like a winner to me. The only caveat I had was that I don't think I've ever seen an Avalon thread/pic/system coupled with McIntosh components, but trust me, it's a fine combo!
Audioguy3107...congrats on the new Eidolon Vision speakers (and the Ayre player and McIntosh pre). I am curious, did you have a chance to compare them to the Eidolon Diamonds or no? Not sure if you bought these new or used, so it may have just been you got a good deal on used Visions but I was curious if they were new and if you compared them to the Diamonds, what tipped the scale in favor of the Visions. Thx
Have updated the pictures........the new Avalon Acoustics Eidolon Visions have arrived and been set up. To say they sound great would be an understatement.
System edited: Some updates to the system......traded the NAD and Rega Apollo CD players for an Ayre C-5xe mp CD/SACD/DVD A player. Also traded in the Classe preamp for a McIntosh C220 tube preamp. Both changes sound fantastic. One more big change on the way.......new loudspeakers. Cannot wait.......Avalon Eidolon Visions. Will update with new pics once they're here!!
Hey Audioguy. Beautiful room and audio system! In my prior residence I had a floor setup much like yours: hardwood with area rug. I found that the presentation/ integration improved considerably when the speakers were actually on the rug not just up to the edge. Have you tried this? Love that amp and I've always been a thiel guy ( cs 1.2 cs 2.2 both incredible speakers when setup properly). Good luck!
Thanks for the responses.....need to update some pics soon, I've recently traded in the Rega Apollo & NAD M5 for an Ayre C-5xeMp SACD player and my Classe preamp for a new McIntosh C220 tube preamp. Sounds excellent, especially with some DVD Audio discs I've collected. Next step, new speakers? The Thiels are hard to beat for the price, but I would absolutely love to see what some Avalon Indras or Eidolons would do!!
Nice system and room. I'm sure it sounds wonderful. It looks like a great place to unplug!
If you want any advice; I think Thiels need a minimum of 10 feet of space between the listener to really gel and sound like a point source. You say the carpet is 10*14 and judging by the photos (Thiels on one edge or carpet, back of sofa on another), I'd say your ear is about 9 feet from the speakers. Then again, you do want to keep your ears from the back wall, so you may have struck the right balance.
Your rig & room are wonderful. Since you are on the opinions page you might I suggenst placing your subs the exact same distance from the listening position as your main speakers. Has to do with time and low frequency room equalization. I have my one sub on the inside of the speakers, not pointed directly at the listening position and this has worked very well. I have tried to follow the system setup best practices on the mapleshaderecords.com website. It is owned by Pierre Sprey and he has put all of his set up advice on the website for free. I run my system most of the day so my SS C45/MC352 works for me but I wouldn't mind seeing what a McIntosh C2300 pre would do, especially for vinyl. Happy Listening.
Audioguy3107...I totally agree that you should have substantial and high quality power driving the Thiel 2.4s. I started out with a Musical Fidelity A5 integrated amp driving my Thiel 2.4s and while they had more than enough power to drive the speakers, the combination was a tad edgy and analytical. I switched over to an all Audio Research set-up and eventhough I am driving the Thiels with 110wpc of tube power, my Ref 110 amps drive the Thiel quite nicely. But my room is moderately sized (14'x18') and I don't listen at very high SPLs. The biggest difference for me when I switched over to high quality tube amplification with the 2.4s is the timbral accuracy and realism, the holographic 3D soundstage with pinpoint imaging, and the silky smooth flow of the music (yet with all the detail and resolution still there that the 2.4 can deliver). I hear you on upgrading in the future but when you get a chance (even just for an audition), I would insert a high quality tube pre-amp (choose your poison many to choose from) and see if that floats your boat. The only thing you need to do is make sure there is no impedance mismatch between the tube pre and your SS MC402. Enjoy the tunes. You have a great setup and a very nice room in which to enjoy the music. Congrats.
Cmalak - no, haven't tried any tube based products yet. Upgrading will be a long time in the future barring something breaking down, but I would think a nice tube preamp would complement the system nicely. I've read that Audio Research tube preamps have a good synergy with McIntosh amps, but I wouldn't know firsthand. I originally thought about tube amps with the speakers (BAT VK75/McIntosh MC 275s), but most feeback I got said to try to stick to solid state with the CS 2.4s.
Audioguy3107...great looking room and system. Have you tried tubes in your signal chain (best in the preamp as the Thiel 2.4s like some power driving them)?
